Self-Working or Sleightless in Cards

A spectator cuts the pack of cards and counts off 25 cards. Shuffle these cards and have five of them selected by members of the audience. The magician does not view this selection process as his back is turned away during all this. The cards are replaced and the pack shuffled. A spectator is asked to place the cards in five rows of five cards each on an unprepared stand or easel or display board. (When performing this close-up or at a party situation the cards may be placed on the table surface, rather than using an easel.) Note: The cards may be placed in any order, on any row, either face...

A lost Michael Skinner mystery, updated by Steve Pellegrino. Included is Michael Skinner's original handling and Steve Pellegrino's additions. Your Last Card is a triple revelation with two different predictions. You can reset it during performance and no sleight-of-hand is required.

You ask a spectator to cut off a small packet of cards, less than half of the deck. You turn away as they do this, so you don't know how much they cut, even an approximate amount. They pocket their cards. You also cut off a small packet of cards for yourself.

Before the presentation with the cards begins, you write a...

A collection of really nice card tricks that require no sleight-of-hand. Additionally, you will get an informative biographical sketch of Fred Roner written by Richard Hatch.

• Fred Roner: Card Conjurer, Stage Pickpocket, Painter
• You have bought this book!
• The Press and I
• Guessing of Cards
• No Title?
• With dice and matches
• The three righteous
• Which card is missing?
• I knew it!
• Vanished?

1st German edition 1929, 1st English translation 2022; PDF 20 pages.

"This is my favorite effect of the year." - Rob Jacks

"David Jonathan is one of my favorite creators... and this is one of the very BEST effects I've reviewed in a long time, and the BEST effect for the money. It's an absolute steal." - Rick Carruth (The Magic Roadshow)

"This effect is an almost perfect example of a great self-working trick. It gets my highest recommendation for anyone who loves impactful magic with a theme that suits both adult and children audiences. 10/10!" - Alex Hui (Alex Magic Review)

This is a lovely self-working small packet trick Aldo Colombini created from a trick published by Richard Vollmer.

Effect:

You show the spectator two face-up packs with four cards each, and a prediction - in the form of a face-down card - is placed on the table. The cards are the same in each pile, but their order is different. From a regular deck of cards, the spectator selects three cards. The values of these cards determine how many cards have to be moved from the top to the bottom in either of the piles. The spectator is even allowed to split the work between the piles. Say 5 cards...

This is a new self-working card trick: the viewer will choose two cards, to represent the law and by means of which he will get two more cards, lost in the deck, which he will then divide into four bundles. Over the course of two separate stages, the spectator himself will insert the "sheriffs" within the deck, as arbitrarily as possible. The decks will be shuffled, cut and completed but, despite a thousand adversities, the two "sheriff" cards will succeed in tracking down and capturing the two "outlaws," generated by the combination of the first two cards, chosen at random.

The legend...

Virtual Revelations Triumph is a new and incredible hands-off card magic effect, which is also possible from a distance (in a video chat, e.g. on Zoom, Skype or Google Meet), in which a couple of people in the same room, even if they are connected to the illusionist miles away, will take part in an experiment in which two cards freely chosen from about half the deck, distributed in various piles and shuffled between them, turning some of them face up and others face down, depending on the free choices of the two participants, will end up being the only two cards left face down and which, once...

Virtual Color Separation is an unusual and incredible effect of hands-off card magic, manageable even remotely, through a video chat, such as Zoom, Skype or Google Meet, but especially possible to perform by phone, with a spectator who has a common deck of 52 playing cards, that the magician will never have the opportunity to see but will still be able to control inexplicably, coming at the end to separate the red-suited cards from the black ones, without the spectator any wiser.

A lady chosen as a spectator, after having separated the red-suited cards from the black ones, will choose the...

This ebook is a beginner's guide to the famous Gilbreath Principle and its applications in card magic and mentalism. It includes two ESP-type routines:

Fingertip Sensation

The spectator shuffles the deck. The mentalist (who can be blindfold) then uses his fingertips to correctly identify the colour of cards.

Trinities Card Divination

The mentalist correctly divines attributes (colour, suit, value) of playing cards which the spectator has shuffled, dealt, and covered with his hands while the mentalist has turned away.

[Note: This ebook is a revised extract from Michael Daniels' ebook Trinities, plus an additional routine (Fingertip Sensation).

1st edition...

Uncutted is a three-phase routine with a totally unexpected ending. The spectator can make free choices but many coincidences will happen. A deck cut in half literally. The spectator will always magically find the corresponding card in the other half. A long series of unexpected coincidences. A very fun routine.

• You have all the material at home to construct your deck
• You will use a normal deck
• No force
• No sleight of hand
• Detailed instructions

1st edition 2022, video 27:25.

A billion-to-1 psychic miracle using a regular deck of cards. A reputation maker, yet easy to perform.

A deck of cards is legitimately riffle shuffled and cut. A spectator selects any two suits, say Spades and Diamonds. These two suits are removed from the pack and given to the spectator. The performer takes the other two suits not chosen. The spectator deals a card face down. The performer places a card face up on this card. This is repeated. Variety is added by the performer dealing a card face down and spectator covers this card with one of his cards face-up. When all cards are dealt...

Only one routine but what an effect - and completely self working! This must be one of the strongest self-working effects there is. Based on the Eddie Joseph principle “Staggered” you have here a unique, fantastic routine in five phases, one stronger than the other where the cards match even though everything appears controlled by the spectator. The finale is a ‘staggering’ match of all the cards! You will have fun learning it and you will make a reputation out of this routine. Uses any deck of cards.

It is quite an achievement for Aldo to take a strong effect and make it even stronger by streamlining...

The effects of "remote" mentalism (with the performer blindfolded, in another room, or, even, on the phone, with only the audio connection) generally use mathematical principles. Often, with a little pack of cards (or billets) real miracles can be performed: if the cards are to be shuffled by the spectator, it is necessary that the shuffle appears as random as possible, even if it must necessarily be a mathematical one.

With this publication I have addressed some well-known moves, used in different ways, alone or in conjunction with other shuffles or other principles; once the principle...

Three spectators choose a card each. The cards vanish from the deck to later reappear face-up in a face-down spread. As long as you can count and do a double undercut you can perform this effect. Since there is counting and displaying of cards involved this effect requires a captive and moderately intelligent audience to play well.

runtime 9min 40s

Jon Racherbaumer steps forward with a very keen Introduction to this Baxter treatment of the classic Three Jacks Deal. “…celebrate and perform Baxter’s latest, evolutionary entry.” It has been around since 1928, but this version guides it well into the 21st century.

Ian Baxter has accomplished something remarkable. He has taken a wonderful classic self-working effect, that has been described and worked on by such luminaries as Walter Gibson, John Scarne, Rufus Steele, Harry Lorayne, Ed Marlo and made it even better, more direct, less dealing procedures while preserving the effect, the sleight-less feature as well as adding an additional climax....

The effect as seen by the audience: The performer displays a red-backed deck and a blue-backed deck. Two participants each choose a deck freely. Then both participants mentally think of a different playing card each. They need not announce which card they are thinking of. Surprisingly, when each participant deals down their respective deck, they find their thought of card missing from that deck. As a kicker twist, each participant's thought of card is found in the other participant's deck.

Another effect as seen by the audience: The performer displays a red-backed deck and a blue-backed...

An entertaining mental feat with a borrowed deck of cards.

From the brilliant mind of Bob Hummer comes a divination mystery that seems impossible, yet you do it every time. The performer takes the spectator on an adventure with a borrowed deck and a dead person's age (which is furnished by anyone in the room). In some uncanny manner, the "Whispering Spirit" aids the performer in solving the mystery. The performer does not need to touch the deck while they are in the spectator's hands.

There are no setups, stacks or cyclical rotations. The cards may be borrowed. The cards are not marked....

A card trick that is flashy and plays big, it is suitable for parlor or stage and requires no skill.

Four Queens are each seen in four glass tumblers facing outward. Each Queen is then turned back outward and returned to its glass. Three indifferent cards are placed in each glass with the first three Queens. The fourth Queen is left by herself in the fourth glass.

The performer waves his hands and the magic happens. The cards are removed from the first glass. There are only three cards, the Queen has vanished. This is repeated with the next two glasses. Finally, the card is removed from...

How to find the guilty card despite a possible reticent witness!

An effect of mentalism, possible from a distance (in a video chat or even just on the phone), whose story is very loosely inspired by the movie "The Unusual Suspects" and in which the spectator is asked to choose five random cards from the deck. They will represent the suspects of a major bank robbery. Only one will be the real culprit. Despite the free arrangement of the cards and the various shuffles of face-up and face-down cards, in the end the mentalist will always succeed to guess all of these:

• in which position the...

"I've been doing magic 40 years, and this may be one of my five favorite tricks. Excellent thinking. Hard to top." - Clyde Hayre, US.

LOVE IT! I've been looking for a trick to help promote my business and this is perfect as I trade under the name "That's Magic" - Barry Harvey, UK.

You get 16...

"I've been doing magic 40 years, and this may be one of my five favorite tricks. Excellent thinking. Hard to top." - Clyde Hayre, US.

A spectator is asked to throw three fair dice (this is an absolute fair throw or even just a mental throw - no force here). From the number fairly thrown you construct a perfect magic square. For a kicker, the cards are put together and the face of a King of Hearts appears.

There is no palming of cards or exchanging of decks or anything like it. You work with 16 cards and 16 cards only without any sleight-of-hand.

You get 16 specially printed cards...

I started from Karl Fulves' idea called "Voodoo Cards", published on pp. 588-589 of The Pallbearers Review, Vol. 5-8 (November 1969 - October 1973), where a series of five effects proposed as bets are described, with the use of only three cards or tickets written on the spot. Always winning bets and of immediate revelation at first glance, also considering the fact that there are very few elements at stake and the (perceived) probability of success is 50%.

I propose an evolution of Fulves' work with three effects based on the same kind of principle, characterized by an apparent increasing difficulty,...

A deck is borrowed from a spectator. The deck is shuffled by the spectator. They select a card and commit it to memory. Nothing is forced, no card is mentioned out loud.

A second spectator is thinking of any number between 1 and 52, the card is replaced and the deck is further mixed. Nothing is forced, no number is mentioned out loud.

Only after both spectators are satisfied with the random state of the deck are the freely chosen card and number named out loud (only if they want! This information can stay unknown to the performer the whole time.)

The performer does not touch the deck,...

This is an oldie but goodie, it helps solve a problem with certain church shows. Devin has often got phone calls from church groups asking for a magic show, but to not bring playing cards because the church frowns upon them as being sinful. Here is an effective and proven way to use playing cards in church groups that think cards are based on gambling and are of the devil. Yes, these people still exist today and this treatise gives an effective way to overcome this belief. Devin was raised in a household that forbid playing cards, but he used the technique in this e-book to change his family's...

Here you will learn several stunning sleight-less card routines which are based on a principle that while not new, already Alex Elmsley and others before him have explored it, is brought to new prominence by Nick Conticello. Using this idea he has created stunning card routines that require no sleight of hand. Nevertheless, the occasional false cut or false shuffle can greatly enhance these pieces. Nick teaches an effective false cut, the Widdershins Cut.

• The 23rd Card
• The 28th Card
• The Shadow Divination
• The Widdershins Cut
• The Three Predictions

1st edition 2014, 16 pages.

In August of 1963, Dai Vernon took a twenty-hour bus trip from Los Angeles to Dallas, Texas, to deliver a lecture at the Statler Hilton Hotel.

On the way there, Vernon created an amazing effect, an effect that is relatively unknown, even today. Shortly thereafter, Vernon advertised the trick for sale.

A revelation of a freely selected card.

EFFECT: The performer places an envelope containing a prediction on the table. He shows a deck of cards, and he begins to deal cards onto the table. A spectator says 'stop' at any moment he likes. The stopped-at card is placed aside and kept by the spectator who chose it. Several cards before and after the selection are clearly shown to be all different, while the performer states that the spectator could have stopped him on any of them. The spectator reveals the chosen card, for example, the King of Spades, and the prediction is seen to be a Jumbo...

This ebook teaches solutions to the following problem Rusduck posed in the late 1950s:

Arguably the best rendition of this type of effect is the Bloom Miracle Poker Machine.

These are very similar requirements to the Fitch Cheney Five-Card Trick. But they are not identical. In the Fitch Cheney trick the performer selects the one card out of the five given to him which his assistant needs to identify...

A card feat that can be done over the radio. The magician shows the audience how to program their deck into a smart deck and proceeds to locate everyone's chosen card over the radio. A great publicity stunt that will get you booked on radio shows.

"Very deceptive, very nice!" - Tom Craven

One spectator receives a prediction for safe keeping. Another spectator receives a portion of the deck, shuffles it thoroughly, deals cards one at a time on the table, and stops whenever he likes. He may stop at the first card, the last card, or anywhere in between. The value of the randomly chosen card is used to count to a card in the remaining portion of the deck. And that card matches the prediction.

runtime: 4min 34s

This is certainly not 'the last word on cards'. There never will be a last word on cards. But it is a delightful collection of self-working card effects. Some of the brightest minds contributed: Ed Marlo, Eddie Joseph, Al Leech, Bill Simon, Eddie Fields, Oscar Weigle, Audley Walsh and of course Rufus Steele himself.

You will find the original "Sam and Moe" card story on which Bill Malone's "Sam the Bellhop" is based. I also found a very interesting magic card square routine that I was not aware of.

For anyone who likes clever card tricks which are based on subtleties, math and other clever ruses, this is a must read.

• Introduction ...